Can anybody on here please provide any further information on where it might please be possible to obtain a copy of Victor-Hastings-Dare-Bascombe's 32minute (1966 version), colour film entitled "The Rainbow and the Forest" (The Life Story of the Purple Emperor Butterfly)? The film was the only film produced by "Saffrom Films" and was presented at the end of the annual meeting of the "Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London" (later to become “The Royal Entomological Society”) on the 2nd March 1966. References also suggested that this film was also presented before the "Proceedings (and Tranactions) of the British Natural History and Entomological Society" in April of 1966. Victor-Hastings-Dare-Bascombe, a dental surgeon by profession unfortunately died in the September of the following year (1967), having been a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society for 10 years. I would very much appreciate any information that anybody could please provide in relation to this matter. The photo associated with this post was nothing to do with the original film and was simply downloaded from the internet (hence the iStockphoto logo). I just thought it was pretty and fit rather nicely with the films title. Limited further information on the film can be found at the following URL, for anyone that is interested:
http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/76787
Original citations can be found at the following locations:
Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London, (1966), 31(10), pp51.
Proceedings and Transactions of the British Entomological and Natural History Society, (1968), 1(1), pp4.
Journal of Zoology, (1969), 157(2), pp266.
Obituary:
Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London, (1967), 32(11), pp58.
I trust that the successful location of this film may also be of some interest to some of you?
Mark
4 comments:
Never heard of it! Sounds wonderful. Contact Robin Crane, if you know him; failing that I will. He'll know.
Thanks Matthew. Neither the RES, or the BENHS appear to have any further information (or deposited copies) of this film. I do not know Robin (I presume the Robin Crane: vice president of Sussex Wildlife Trust?) If you think he'll be able to provide any leads, please make any necessary enquiries. I would very much like to view this film, but due to its age I am certain that it will need to be converted to a modern digital format. Please can you keep me close in the loop regarding any information that you are able to obtain from Robin regarding this film.
I note that Victor Bascombe also has credits for "Wings of Copper", the story of the attempted reintroduction of the Large Copper to Woodwalton Fen. This was made with the cooperation of the Woodwalton Fen Advisory Committee and the Reserve Warden, Mr Gordon Mason. Find "Wings of Copper," and you may also find "The Rainbow and the Forest".
He also produced "The Large White", which is credited to Gateway Films, and not the untraceable "Saffrom". I think Gateway used to be educational distributors - they possibly inherited "The Rainbow.." and their stock would have ended up somewhere.
If you get your hands on it, it's probably a 16mm print with an optical sound track. Let me know - I'll endeavour to get it transferred to something more friendly.
Victor Hastings Dare Bascombe was my grandfather. A number of years ago, I contacted the BBC and the British Film Institute to see if I could get a copy for my Mother. The thought of her hearing her fathers voice again was the driving force. I was sadly advised that ths wasn't possible and to my eternal shame I never followed up on it. My mother turned eighty this year, so if anyone does manage to get a copy of any of my Grandfathers films with his voice as narrator or just some information, I would be most grateful.
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